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2 Journalists Killed in Turkish Airstrike in Northern Iraq, Local Officials Say

Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
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2 Journalists Killed in Turkish Airstrike in Northern Iraq, Local Officials Say

Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)

Two female journalists were killed in a Turkish airstrike that hit their car in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, local officials and media said Friday.

The journalists, Hero Baha’uddin and Golestan Tara, worked for a local Kurdish media company, according to local media outlet Roj News and an official in Sulaimaniyah province who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the regional government in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, condemned the strike.

“They were two women journalists, not members of an armed force to be a threat to the security and stability of any country or region,” he said in a statement.

Roj News reported that six other journalists were injured “with varying degrees of severity.”

An earlier statement by the Kurdish region’s counter-terrorism service based in Erbil said a strike near the village of Teperash had targeted a car carrying members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Türkiye since the 1980s and is banned there and in Iraq.

It said the strike had killed a PKK official along with a guard and their driver.

It was not immediately clear if the two accounts were referencing the same strike and whether there were one or two cars hit.

There was no immediate statement from Turkish officials. Earlier Friday the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that its forces had “neutralized” 16 PKK members in other parts of northern Iraq.

“We will continue unpredictable, unconventional, rapid and continuous operations to destroy terrorism at its source,” the statement said.

The PKK has maintained bases in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. In recent months, Türkiye has built up its troops in northern Iraq and has threatened an offensive to clear PKK forces from the border area.

Türkiye often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the PKK. Baghdad has complained that the strikes are a breach of its sovereignty, but has also taken a tougher stance against the PKK in recent months.

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Fires Break Out on Abandoned Oil Tanker Sounion That Houthis Attacked in Red Sea

Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion is pictured in Yarımca, Gulf of Izmit, east of Istanbul, Türkiye, May 31, 2024. (Reuters)
Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion is pictured in Yarımca, Gulf of Izmit, east of Istanbul, Türkiye, May 31, 2024. (Reuters)
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Fires Break Out on Abandoned Oil Tanker Sounion That Houthis Attacked in Red Sea

Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion is pictured in Yarımca, Gulf of Izmit, east of Istanbul, Türkiye, May 31, 2024. (Reuters)
Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion is pictured in Yarımca, Gulf of Izmit, east of Istanbul, Türkiye, May 31, 2024. (Reuters)

Fires broke out Friday on a Greek-flagged oil tanker previously attacked by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen this week, with the vessel now appearing to be adrift in the Red Sea, authorities said.

It wasn't immediately clear what had happened to the oil tanker Sounion, which had been abandoned by its crew on Thursday and reportedly anchored in place.

The Houthis didn't immediately acknowledge the fire. The militias are suspected to have gone back and attacked at least one other vessel that later sank as part of their monthslong campaign against shipping in the Red Sea over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that's disrupted a trade route that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it annually.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the fires in a note to mariners on Friday night.

“UKMTO have received a report that three fires have been observed on vessel,” the center said. “The vessel appears to be drifting.”

A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said American officials were aware of the fires and continued to monitor the situation.

The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti, the EU's Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea said on Thursday.

The Sounion has 150,000 tons of crude oil aboard and represents a “navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.”

The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors.

Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.

The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the UK to force an end to Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the US military told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. Early Thursday, the US military’s Central Command said that the Lincoln had reached the waters of the Middle East, without elaborating.

Washington also has ordered the USS Georgia-guided missile submarine to the region, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group was in the Gulf of Oman.

Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region and the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.